May Hill Capital LLC Sells 330 Shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO)

May Hill Capital LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 9.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,137 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 330 shares during the period. May Hill Capital LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $288,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in SO. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 102,790,453 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,461,710,000 after purchasing an additional 698,422 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Southern by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,050,209 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,056,441,000 after acquiring an additional 528,870 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Southern by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,805,269 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $889,490,000 after acquiring an additional 460,594 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Southern during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $848,019,000. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in Southern by 23.2% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,208,872 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $428,794,000 after purchasing an additional 979,756 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on SO shares. Raymond James Financial started coverage on shares of Southern in a report on Friday, June 13th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $98.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $93.00 price target on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Southern from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $102.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Southern from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $94.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Southern currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $92.93.

Southern Stock Performance

NYSE:SO opened at $91.66 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $100.74 billion, a PE ratio of 21.88, a PEG ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.38. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $89.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $87.96. Southern Company has a 1 year low of $77.62 and a 1 year high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $7.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.17 billion. Southern had a net margin of 16.54% and a return on equity of 12.70%. The firm’s revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.03 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th were paid a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.23%. This is an increase from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is presently 70.64%.

Southern Profile

The Southern Company, through its subsidiaries, engages in the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity. The company also develops, constructs, acquires, owns, and manages power generation assets, including renewable energy projects and sells electricity in the wholesale market; and distributes natural gas in Illinois, Georgia, Virginia, and Tennessee, as well as provides gas marketing services, gas distribution operations, and gas pipeline investments operations.